This working paper presents the methodological basis for the Migration, Environmental and Climate Change: Evidence for Policy (MECLEP) project, funded by the European Union. Migration as adaptation has been widely discussed but remains empirically understudied. The authors call for a reconceptualization of the migration–adaptation nexus and a deeper understanding of how migration affects adaptive capacities. Research should analyse migration as one possible adaptation strategy among many others, acknowledging both the positive and negative outcomes, and should focus on adaptation for whom: the migrants themselves, community of origin and community of destination.

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the advantages and challenges of the proposed methodological approaches. For an increased understanding and to provide empirical evidence for policymaking, the authors suggest putting migration corridors at the heart of the analysis and recommend employing a mixture of both traditional qualitative and quantitative methods.